HIGH WINDS DELAY DISCOVERY LANDING.Byline: Staff and Wire Services Stiff winds prevented the space shuttle space shuttle, reusable U.S. space vehicle. Developed by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), it consists of a winged orbiter, two solid-rocket boosters, and an external tank. Discovery and its seven astronauts from landing at the Kennedy Space Center Kennedy Space Center (Cape Canaveral) U.S. launch site for manned space missions. [U.S. Hist.: WB, So:562] See : Astronautics in Florida on Sunday, keeping them in orbit an extra day. Officials of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), civilian agency of the U.S. federal government with the mission of conducting research and developing operational programs in the areas of space exploration, artificial satellites (see satellite, artificial), said the weather might lead to a shuttle landing at Edwards Air Force Base Edwards Air Force Base, U.S. military installation, 301,000 acres (121,805 hectares), S Calif., NE of Lancaster; est. 1933. It is one of the largest air force bases in the United States and has the world's longest runway. in California this afternoon, or the Discovery might end up staying in space even longer. ``We are looking at both as possible landing sites,'' NASA NASA: see National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA in full National Aeronautics and Space Administration Independent U.S. spokesman Joseph D'Agostino said about Kennedy and Edwards. The last time a space shuttle landed at Edwards was in March of 1996. NASA prefers for the Discovery to land in Florida to avoid the delays and expense involved in ferrying the huge spacecraft back to Cape Canaveral Cape Canaveral (kənăv`ərəl), low, sandy promontory extending E into the Atlantic Ocean from a barrier island, E Fla., separated from Merritt Island by the Banana River, a lagoon; named (1963) Cape Kennedy in memory of President John . D'Agostino said NASA will probably make the decision today on which site to use. As of Sunday, the forecast for today was for more high winds at the Kennedy Space Center and, at Edwards, for slight winds and a chance of rain. If the space shuttle lands at Edwards today, the most likely time would be at 2:58 p.m., D'Agostino said. ``The winds are not complying with us,'' a Mission Control official in Houston told commander Brian Duffy Brian Duffy, Retired Colonel, USAF (b. June 20 1953, Boston, Massachusetts) is a former NASA astronaut. Personal data Married to the former Janet M. Helms of West Lafayette, Indiana. They have two children. He enjoys golf, running, and reading. His mother, Mrs. about the situation in Florida on Sunday. ``I understand,'' Duffy replied. The crosswind cross·wind n. A wind blowing at right angles to a given direction, as to an aircraft's line of flight. Noun 1. crosswind - wind blowing across the path of a ship or aircraft at Kennedy was strong and steady and not expected to change Sunday. Gusts up to 22 mph were whipping across the 3-mile-long landing strip when flight director Leroy Cain called off efforts to bring Discovery home Sunday after its space station construction mission. NASA's limit for a safe shuttle touchdown is 17 mph. Discovery has enough fuel and power to stay up until Wednesday. Its flight - the 100th in space shuttle history - began back on Oct. 11. After a week of exhausting work at the international space station, the astronauts are eager to come home. Duffy and his crew installed a new docking port and an aluminum framework on the 240-mile-high complex, a job that required four space walks on four consecutive days. Their successful work cleared the way for the space station's first permanent crew to arrive in just 1 1/2 weeks. American astronaut Bill Shepherd and two Russian cosmonauts are scheduled to rocket away from Kazakstan on Oct. 31. They will spend four months aboard the space station, activating all its systems and working on a couple of bad batteries. NASA officials are especially eager to land Discovery in Florida rather than California. The shuttle is supposed to return to the space station in February, and a detour to California could delay that mission. It takes nearly one week and costs $750,000 to ferry a space shuttle from California to Florida. |
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